Similar to "American Idol" except this is produced by local television stations across the country and stays at the local level. The concept is distributed by Post-Newsweek Television. Here is how it breaks down: The market-exclusive program auditions locals at area malls or at the studio. >From that pool of 500+, 35 are chosen (30 primary contenders plus five alternates) by the station producers to go on to the televised semi-finals. Each week for 6 weeks, five singers face-off in front of a panel of judges to be scored on a 40-point scale. The winner each week earns a spot in the final 5. The home audience gets to choose a wild card singer out of the 4 remaining singers. The five wild cards compete to find one to move on to the finals as well. In the finals, one will walk away with a grand prize package and recognition as a local singing sensation.
KSL-TV/Salt Lake City, WDIV/Detroit, WNBC/New York, WPXI/Pittsburgh, WJXT/Jacksonville, and KMWB/Minneapolis are a few of the many stations who have produced local versions of "Gimme The Mike!" Shows have been produced on location at casinos, theaters, and in the studio.
